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Officials at the launch of the Murang'a County CNAP

February 17, 2021 – The Government of Murang’a County today launched its County Nutrition Action Plan (CNAP) for 2020-2025. The plan lays out key costed nutrition priorities that will help to accelerate and scale up efforts to eliminate malnutrition.

The CNAP is aligned with the Kenya Nutrition Action Plan, which recognizes nutrition as a fundamental human right and a driver of economic development. The plan focuses on achieving specific targets by 2025 and is designed to assist the county in meeting its broader development agenda while contributing to the national goal of improving health.

Nutrition International supported the development of the CNAP through its Nutrition Technical Assistance Mechanism’s Technical Assistance for Nutrition project, funded with UK aid from the UK government.

“Noting that tackling malnutrition requires a multisectoral approach, Murang’a County has been implementing various nutrition-sensitive projects to complement the nutrition services offered directly at our health facilities,” said County Governor His Excellency Mwangi wa Iria. “The CNAP we are launching today shows my government’s deliberate effort to prioritize nutrition services in our food security and healthcare interventions.”

Despite malnutrition rates slightly below the national average, Murang’a County still suffers from the burden of malnutrition. The stunting rate is 19% and the wasting rate is 4.6%. The child mortality rate is 58 deaths per 1,000.

The CNAP will act as a roadmap and monitoring tool for nutrition programs, an advocacy and resource mobilization tool, and a guide for stakeholders on where they can direct their support.

“The Murang’a CNAP has identified contextually appropriate priority nutrition interventions for each sector: health, agriculture, education, sports, gender and social protection, water and others,” said Nutrition International Kenya Country Director Martha Nyagaya. “This action plan defines targets for each intervention, it provides a monitoring and accountability framework, as well as a budget for each intervention. It is our resource mobilization tool and we hope that as Nutrition International and the county government invests resources to support its implementation, other partners will join in.”

Nutrition International has provided technical and financial support for the development of 16 of the 23 CNAPs completed in Kenya. Murang’a County’s CNAP is the 10th to be launched.